[AC] Shock Troopers

[Doctor Fugue]

[This thread was originally in the staff-only (hidden) forum, but I decided to bring it out due to reasons that should become clear to anyone who takes the time to read it. --icy]


Shock Troopers

*****

Developer: Saurus
Publisher: SNK
Hardware: NEOGEO MVS
Release: November 11, 1997

The SNK internal development team Saurus will not be remembered for producing a consistent level of quality in their small library of games. Indeed, their fighting game Shin Oh Ken is terrible, but shooting game Chotetsu Brikin’ger is on par with the finest shooters published by SNK. Their range in genres is similarly diverse: STG, horse racing, run and gun, a quiz game, football, and electrified maze games (of which one has the excellently-translated title of Irritating Stick). Fortunately, Saurus made one game that is truly excellent and allows us to forget all their apparent unevenness. That game is Shock Troopers.

Fashioned in the tradition of Senjō no Ōkami and Ikari, Shock Troopers includes several welcome alterations to the conventional top-down run and gun mechanics. Multiple level paths, risk and reward scoring, in-game character switching, and complex controls all combine to make this game both unique and worthy of consideration as the pinnacle in this genre.

The excellence begins with the controls. All four SNK buttons are used: shot, grenade, roll and character switch. While the first two are standard issue, the roll maneuvre adds an interesting wrinkle. Your character is invincible during the roll, and it can be used in both offensive and defensive techniques. At first glance it appears too useful, in that almost any immediate danger can be avoided. However, it soon becomes clear that the slow enemy bullets and the scoring system insist the player use the roll aggressively, leading to exciting battles for position. Since the shot button will initiate a powerful knife slash at close range (as in Metal Slug), and many more points are gained by kills of this kind, utilizing the timing and distance of the roll correctly is a necessary strategy that is very satisfying to perform.

Tapping the shot button (when not next to an enemy) will yield a short stream of bullets in the direction you are facing. Holding the shot button allows you to fire continuously in a single direction while you move about the screen. This is a perfect balance between the difficulty of only being able to shoot in the direction you are running (as in Senjō no Ōkami) and the freedom of independent movement and fire (as in Robotron: 2084). It is admirable that Saurus managed to design the levels and enemy placement in such a way that complements the controls. Any other control scheme for this game would break the equilibrium between what you can do and what you need to do. Indeed, I find myself wishing that the rolling and strafing system was available in more games of this type.

There are eight playable characters, all with slightly different speed, firepower and grenades. You have the option of playing the game entirely with one character (given three life bars) or choosing three of the eight (each with one life bar). Unlike the team play of Armed Police Batrider, there is a character switch button which allows quick substitutions when the need arises. This adds an interesting layer of strategy and variety as you divide the bosses and health items among your crew. The overall difficulty of the game is diminished using the team battle option (having access to three different grenades is reason enough) but it is much more interesting than the “Lonly Wolf” (sic) choice.

Shoot to kill. Kill to score. These basic tenets are improved upon with a couple of extra rules. Most weak enemies will die with one or two bursts from your weapon, but you can continue shooting them before they fall down for extra points. It is devilishly fun to riddle your opponents with unnecessary fire, all the while piling up the points. In addition, the knife attack will not only yield more points, but also health and point items from nearly every enemy. Since this close range attack is much more difficult to safely execute than in other games such as Metal Slug or Shadow Dancer, there is substantial risk in attempting to approach all your enemies. Consciously placing your character in constant danger and surviving is one of the greatest and most addictive traits in games (see Ketsui), and Shock Troopers delivers with every credit.

Although the difficulty of achieving a massive score is relatively high, merely progressing through the game is not. Experts at Out Zone might find the difficulty of clearing Shock Troopers to be too low. For average players, this game provides just enough challenge while keeping a 1CC well within reach. However, the balance and excitement of the scoring system will bring any player back for another attempt. Two more things should be mentioned with regard to difficulty: the game does not get much harder from beginning to end, and there does not exist a moment at which most players will perish without a fair amount of practice (for example, the turret wall in stage 6 of Battle Garegga). I enjoy this relative stability; instead of a single frustrating point or sudden increase in difficulty, Shock Troopers is more evenly balanced.

This aspect of stability or consistency can be found in other areas of the game. The stage designs are all excellent, with a constant pace exhibited in the enemy placements and type. The character sprites (both enemy and ally) are all colourful and uniform in their high level of detail (though not as smooth in animation as Metal Slug, they are thankfully not as ridiculously stupid-looking). All the elements of Shock Troopers work well and display quality throughout the game. And yet, this absolute consistency reveals what might otherwise be a problem: there are no features or moments of absolute brilliance. No boss, no level, no weapon, no background, no battle provides a really memorable experience. Most great games have a point (or points) that you continually recall as being truly awesome, and it makes those games special.

I will, nevertheless, argue here that Shock Troopers does something more important than having a unique, blow-your-mind moment. It does nothing wrong. While many excellent games are somewhat undermined by an annoyance, I can find no faults with Shock Troopers. For example, Batsugun has the bothersome tank scoring trick on the fourth boss (not to mention the absurd Street Fighter motions to make some score pigs appear). DeathSmiles has the incredibly infuriating counter recharge. The third boss of Raiden IV causes an unfortunately sudden spike in difficulty. Some enemies in the second level of Smash TV break the game. The handicap speed boost in any Burnout game is beyond ludicrous. The required ten-minute milking of a single spot in Mamoru-kun wa Norowarete shimatta! for score is inexcusable. I generally find something that annoys me, even in the best games. But not in Shock Troopers. Its consistency makes it a remarkably enjoyable game, even after long periods of play.

If you are not yet convinced that Shock Troopers is a game that you must play, I will offer one final argument in its favour: there are three level routes from which to choose, and they are all equally fun. Each one has different backgrounds and scenery, different enemies and bosses, different kinds of levels (motorcycles, boats, trains, climbing rock faces, wading through sewers, and so on); all three paths are almost totally unique. You can even switch paths halfway through the game, which adds an extra stage as you travel from one route to another. This kind of variety is certainly to be appreciated, but the fact that each course is of such high quality is truly admirable.

Shock Troopers was released shortly after the original Metal Slug and they competed for position in arcades as SNK’s foremost non-fighting game. Given my distaste for Metal Slug, you might guess that I am unhappy with it going on to become a major franchise while Shock Troopers only received one disappointing sequel. Fortunately, the original game is a success in every respect and subsequent games are totally unnecessary.

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This is the first draft that I wrote over the past two days. I struggled with some parts, but I think it turned out fairly well considering I have not written anything at all in a long time. Thanks for reading!

[icycalm]

It's a very good review. I'll post it along with Josh's Batman review and my reviews of Ketsui DS and Far Cry 2, sometime after my next essay (coming up soon).

Give me a couple of days and I'll be back with some comments on a couple of minor points.

In the meantime we need to think about the screenshots...

[Doctor Fugue]

Thank you for your efforts, once again. I do not understand why people don't appreciate you, considering how generous you are with your time.

I can capture some screenshots from MAME on the weekend. I will grab the title screen and a bunch from the first level.

[icycalm]

Review is up:

http://insomnia.ac/reviews/neogeo/shocktroopers/

I've made some changes, but I'll talk about them later because I am trying to get Josh's review up as well before this internet cafe closes for the night.

One thing I will say though, is that the last sentence HAD to change. Dude, think about what you were saying. It was seriously retarded.

[icycalm]

Also note that the spacer image sucks because:

1. There are not many illustrations of this game around

2. That's the best I could crop with paint

So yeah, we'll update it at some point, but I think it's decent enough for now. Overall, I'd say the page looks pretty good even as it is.

[Doctor Fugue]

Thanks for making the changes and posting the review.

The end of the review, both the original and current ending, implies that I was hopeful for a second game, but I had (and still have) no desire for another Shock Troopers. I am not asking you to change the end again; the edited version is fine.

Edit: Fuck it, I was writing here about why I hate sequels of sufficiently different desgin, but never mind. It was stupid.

Honestly I should not have even mentioned the sequel since it has nothing to do with the original game. Reviews should never mention games that came after it, right? I would rather write a review as if the game came out today.

[icycalm]

Hmmmm... I see we need to clear a couple of things up.

The end of the review, both the original and current ending, implies that I was hopeful for a second game, but I had (and still have) no desire for another Shock Troopers.

Then what is your problem with the fact that, "given my distaste for Metal Slug, you might guess that I am unhappy with it going on to become a major franchise, while Shock Troopers" et cetera et cetera?

Any way you look at it the last paragraph makes no sense, dude. Pretty much how Josh's last paragraph in his Batman review makes no sense, considering the rating. This, by the way, is apparently a common phenomenon with beginning reviewers: check also the review sub-forum. People are so focused on finishing on some sort of high note that they end up not giving much of a fuck whether they are making any sense or not.

So, the current edited version at least makes sense. And this is important, because I can't have anything online that makes no sense. If it doesn't quite correspond to how you feel, first DECIDE how you feel, then make sure that this makes sense, then put it down in words and post it here -- and then we'll take it from there. I mean I realize you already said that:

I am not asking you to change the end again; the edited version is fine.

but in any case, if you ever change your mind on this, the procedure I outline above is how we will go about editing the review.

Edit: Fuck it, I was writing here about why I hate sequels of sufficiently different desgin, but never mind. It was stupid.

It depends on what you mean by the term sequel in videogames. There are theme-sequels and mechanics-sequels, and also theme/mechanics-sequels. It is a long and frustrating story, and one of these days I will analyze in great depth and get it over with once and for all.

Honestly I should not have even mentioned the sequel since it has nothing to do with the original game. Reviews should never mention games that came after it, right? I would rather write a review as if the game came out today.

The above is clearly an idea you picked up from reading my conversation with citcelaid about it in some thread in this forum.

Forget about it. It was a fucking astonishingly idiot notion which I put behind me a long time ago -- this is what happens when you are late to the party. That conversation took place like three years ago: I have reevaluated a great many ideas of mine since then. I mean you saw this in your review: you speak of Mamonoro and Raiden IV and whatnot in a review of a 1997 game. It simply can't be helped. You cannot forget what you know or pretend you don't know it -- all the more so since it's actually a good thing that you know all these things! The review will only end up being better because of them! To know many things is to have a wider perspective, after all. Distance is a good thing where evaluation, where criticism, where insight are concerned.

The whole stupid idea of writing reviews as if I were writing them at the time the game was released came to me at the time because I was still very much under the influence of Roger Ebert. I sort of idolized him and his six thousand fucking reviews which he has been writing since like the 60's, and I wanted to create something comparable for videogames. So I got this fucking bright idea to pretend that I was... meh. I actually meant to erase those comments -- that's how ashamed I am of them. All the more so since I have since seen Ebert and his piddling 6,000 reviews for what they are -- all these things are now so far beneath me I can hardly even see them.

So yeah.

[icycalm]

By the way, did I tell you your review is awesome? It's fucking awesome. Josh's too, as always. You guys are all awesome.

[Doctor Fugue]

Thanks, you are awesome as well.

About the ending, I seriously wish I never had to write conclusions (or introductions for that matter). I have a difficult time coming up with something good, and as you say, end up with something that doesn't really make sense. The body of the review gets written without trouble, then I spend hours trying to write a single coherent and meaningful conclusion. Sometimes I get it right, sometimes I step out of bounds. The solution seems to be spending less time trying to make a grand gesture and instead just wrap up the fucking review.

The idea about writing a review as if the game were released today was not a reaction to something you said, but rather a reaction against the awful reviews of old games I have been reading for twenty years. I have read so many terrible reviews of older games (I'm sure we all have) that spend ninety percent of the review talking about how "important" a game is to history, but never spelling out what makes the game great. They also implied that the game was great in the past, but everything newer is better and that it would be unfair to judge them side by side. I figured the only way to get around this kind of history lesson completely was to forget everything that came after. As you say, though, pretending not to know things is pretty ridiculous, and the wider perspective is good if used properly.

I did feel strange mentioning games like Raiden IV, but it would have been stranger to only come up with examples from before 1997. I think Batrider came out a month after Shock Troopers, I have to cut that out too, ha ha!

[icycalm]

Here's some Nietzsche for you:

Masters of the first rank are revealed by the fact that in great as well as small matters they know how to end perfectly, whether it is a matter of ending a melody or a thought, or the fifth act of a tragedy or of an action of state. The best of the second rank always become restless as the end approaches and do not manage to slope into the sea in such proud and calm harmony as, for example, the mountains at Portofino -- where the bay of Genoa ends its melody.

The moral is: do not force anything. Do not search for ideas or for words: try and let them come to you. You are a concert pianist: I am sure you understand exactly what the above means.

[Recap]

I should be checking mine, but I prefer to comment on this before it's been too long on the frontpage. I find this review to be pretty weak. The fact that you can effortlessly progress by slowly advancing and killing enemies which even are still to appear on screen doesn't talk exactly about "consistency" or "doing everything right". The on-the-fly character change is quite gimmicky and unsubstantial, and overcomplicates the control system unnecessarily. And using "stupid-looking" to name Metal Slug's sprites is quite ignorant itself. This all after placing Brinkiger's quality along with that of Last Resort or Blazing Star and missing that Shin-Ou-Ken isn't actually a Saurus game beyond the visuals' technology.

I kind of love the game for doing something none else was doing anymore, and doing it with the budget only SNK had by then, but the review is a bit too much fan-driven.

[icycalm]

And using "stupid-looking" to name Metal Slug's sprites is quite ignorant itself.

Recap, there's nothing ignorant about viewing Metal Slug's sprites as stupid-looking. You can say that he has bad taste if you want, but you can't say he is ignorant.

On the subject of Metal Slug's sprites, I am not going to go so far as to say they are stupid-looking, but I will say that they are far less appealing to me than, for example, the sprites in Gunforce. The visual style, you see, not the technique -- this is my problem, and apparently also his. Technically Metal Slug's are sprites are superior, but aesthetically, as far as I am concerned, they are not. Ideally I would like Gunforce's style rendered with the skill and dexterity of Metal Slug's.

[Recap]

To properly answer this, by "Metal Slug's sprites" you mean just the protagonists, or the whole of them, from the small birds and pieces of fruit to the giant bosses and mechanoids? If it's the latter, I'm not sure I can help you, though.

[icycalm]

lol, but I am not asking for your help!

And yeah, I mean mostly the humanoid sprites, but their style is carried over to everything in a certain sense.

Metal Slug basically has a very goofy, cartoonish look, which is really unique and extremely consistent, and awesomely realized, but my nature is such that, though I can appreciate and enjoy goofishness now and then, in small doses, I could never place it above more realistic, more "serious" if you will artistic styles.

What it boils down to is that I am not a goofy person, so goofishness does not attract me -- at least not for long. I would much rather have 7 Gunforces and 2 Metal Slugs than 7 Metal Slugs and 2 Gunforces.

[El Chaos]

The game has been released for PlayStation 3 and PSP on August 25: http://game.snkplaymore.co.jp/game/neog ... .php?id=14

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h6wqJj1CJw

Via http://postback.geedorah.com/foros/view ... 334#p13334